Where does my money actually go?

What charities and nonprofits need to publish

Trust is the entire product. A donor who cannot see where money goes gives to someone who shows them.

How customers actually ask it

The same intent arrives in wording your page probably does not use. All of these mean the same thing:

  • Where does my money actually go?
  • how much goes to admin
  • what percentage reaches the cause
  • how do you spend donations
  • overheads

What a complete answer contains

For charities and nonprofits specifically, an answer is only complete when it covers all 5:

  1. 1

    The actual split between programme, fundraising and administration, with the year it covers

  2. 2

    A link to your published accounts or annual report

  3. 3

    A concrete example of what a specific amount funds

  4. 4

    An honest defence of your overhead rather than a claim that it is near zero, which nobody believes

  5. 5

    Your registered charity number, so they can verify you independently

A worked example

Illustrative — not a real business

In our most recent published accounts, 81p in every pound went directly to programmes, 12p to fundraising and 7p to running the organisation. £25 provides a week of after-school meals for one child. Our full accounts are filed with the regulator under charity number 1234567 and linked below. We do not claim zero overhead — an organisation with no staff and no accounting could not deliver this reliably.

Which page should own it

Where your money goes page

What silence costs

This is the primary objection to giving. Answering it concretely, with a verifiable number, is the highest-return page a charity can write.

More questions charities and nonprofits get

Related

Does your site answer this already?

Point RubyRep at your website and ask it this exact question. If it cannot answer, neither can your customers.

https://

Takes about a minute. No credit card.